Collapsible hood for carriages



Jan. 1, 1957 G. w. SCHRICKER COLLAPSIBLE HOOD FOR CARRIAGES Filed March 26, 1954 INVENTOR. GEORGE W.SCHRICKER ATTORNEYS United States Patent COLLAPSIBLE HOOD FOR CARRIAGES George W. Schricker, South Bend, Ind., assiguor to South Bend Toy Manufacturing Company, South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Application March 26, 1954, Serial No. 418,861

2 Claims. (Cl. 296-110) The present invention relates to carriages, and more particularly to hoods for doll or baby carriages.

It is an object of this invention to provide a hood for a doll or baby carriage which is adjustable to increase or decrease the size of the hood without affecting the ability of the hood to maintain an erected position. It is a further object to provide a collapsible hood arrangement for a carriage which may be rigidly erected against accidental collapsing but which is nevertheless adjustable to vary the size of the hood without impairing the rigidity of the erectron.

Other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.

To the acomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that specific change may be made in the specific constructions illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective illustration of one embodiment of this invention; and

Fig. 2 is another perspective illustration showing the hood of Fig. 1 in partially collapsed condition.

With reference to the drawings, the carriage is comprised of a body and a scissors carriage frame 12 of conventional construction which carries four transporting wheels 14 at the lower extremity thereof. The frame is provided with the usual handle 16 by which the carriage may be manipulated and a rigid portion 18 around the upper periphery of the body 10 to which the scissors frame 12 and handle 16 may be secured. A collapsible hood 20 is pivotably secured to the body 10 at points 22 on the body frame 18 such that the hood may be completely collapsed onto the body 10 for completely exposing the latter. As illustrated in Fig. l, the hood 20 is completely extended or erected to provide maximum shielding or coverage of the body 10 for protecting the interior of the latter from the sun, rain, etc.

The hood is constructed of a flexible fabric or textile material, indicated by the reference numeral 24, which is stretched over suitable inverted U-shaped metallic frame pieces 26 which are secured to the pivots 22. A hood spreader 28 of toggle design is pivotally connected between the endmost U-shaped frames 26 such that collapsing of the toggle 28 will lower the hood 20 onto the body 10. With the toggle 28 extended as illustrated, the hood 20 is stretched or erected in upright position and i will maintain this position unless it is manually operated to be collapsed.

On the front portion of the hood 20 is a visor extension 30 which is comprised of a U-shaped frame 32 also having its ends pivotally secured to the pivots 22. A section of fabric 34 having a top and two depending sides extends back to the corresponding portions of the main hood and is atnxed thereto by means such as seaming. The U-shaped frame 32 is preferably made smaller than the U-shaped frame 26 of hood 20 such that the former may be pivoted or retracted inside the hood 20 as illustrated by Fig. 2. From this it will be seen that the visor extension 30 may be manipulated independently of the hood 20 and when extended as illustrated in Fig. 1 provides an increase in over-all hood size, thereby protecting the infant or doll which may be carried in the body 10 from the weather elements more adequately. However, should it be desired to open the hood partially, it is only necessary to collapse or retract the visor extension 30 without disturbing the rigid erected condition of the hood 20. Still further, if it should be desired to expose the body 10 completely, it is only necessary to break the spreader or toggle 28 to permit complete collapse of the entire hood assembly 20, 30.

It is often desirable to provide additional sheltering of the body 10 which this invention provides in the form of the visor 30 as a complete extension of the main hood 20. This new style hood is convertible in the sense that the extent of shelter may be appreciably reduced without collapsing the entire hood assembly. A minimum of parts and assembly work is needed for constructing this invention, since the same pivot point 22 is utilized by both hood sections 20 and 30, thereby appreciably differing from prior art devices which provided a simple extension from the top side of the hood 20 which was pivoted near the top portion of this hood. As is obvious, this prior art device will not be provide the extent of additional sheltering as is accomplished by this invention nor the simplicity of construction with increased utility.

What is claimed is:

1. A carriage comprising a frame and transporting wheels, a cariage body supported by said frame, and a collapsible hood pivotally aflixed to said body for covering a portion thereof, said hood being comprised essentially of two separately operable hood portions, both portions being pivoted on said body at a common point, one of said portions being openable to provide a partial coverage for said body and an opening, the other of said portions being afiixed to said one portion at the open end thereof and extendable to increase the coverage of said body, said other portion being collapsible into the interior of said one portion without disturbing the position of the latter, said one portion being operable to collapse both portions onto said body.

2. A carriage comprising a frame and transporting wheels, a carriage body supported by said frame, and a collapsible hood pivotally affixed to said body for covering a portion thereof, said hood being comprised essentially of two separately operable hood portions, both portions being pivoted on said body at a common point, one of said portions being openable to provide a partial coverage on said body and an opening, said one portion having a top and depending sides, the other of said portions being aflixed to said one portion at the open end thereof and extendable to increase the coverage of said body, said other portion having a top and depending sides which constitute an extension of the respective top and sides of said one portion, said other portion being collapsible into the interior of said one portion without disturbing the position of the latter, said one portion being operable to collapse both portions onto said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 353,195 Behlen Nov. 23, 1886 1,470,630 Mahr Oct. 16, 1923 1,919,603 Stinson July 25, 1933 2,034,212 Serisky Mar. 17, 1936 2,177,833 Kroll Oct. 31, 1939 

